Winchester Home for Wayward Sons (and Daughters)
by nicknack22
Summary: After Freaks and Geeks, Dean and Sam decide to more-or-less adopt Krissy, Aiden, and Josephine. Fluff, Feels, and Nonsense.


Dean is antsy about leaving the kids on their own. He really fucking is; it's not that they can't take care of themselves, more because they_ can_. So he throws out a side comment to Sam, who looks surprised, and he makes a U-turn about twenty minutes after they leave town…I mean it's not like they don't have the extra room, and, at least this way, Dean can make sure no one goes on any unsupervised vamp hunts. When did he become a responsible adult anyway?

Krissy thinks Dean is being ridiculous, annoyingly overprotective; Josephine is unsure about the proceedings, distrustful, all narrowed eyes and tense posturing. Dean doesn't really care what the hell Aiden thinks, as he gives the kid's cocky attitude the royal stink eye. It's extremely ironic considering that he had a very similar swagger and devil may care grin at seventeen. Sam notices, but does not point out the comparison (Dean catches the knowing smirk and tells his brother to shut up anyway).

They collectively pack up their stuff and move into the batcave within the week. Everyone gets their own room (Dean makes sure that Krissy and Aiden are on either side of his room, and Krissy gives Dean an eye roll that puts Cas' to shame). Josephine loses a lot of her hesitance and mistrust when she first sets eyes on massive library—Dean is half convinced that she is Sam's long lost twin after that. Aiden is impressed (and probably a little bit intimidated) by Dean's weapon collection. Krissy is all about the maps and charts in the war room.

It's an adjustment for everyone, but, ultimately, the brothers' feel more comfortable looking out for the kids (despite their constant refrain of 'we're not kids, Dean'). Sam enrolls them in the local high school, and Dean is not really sure how they're going to pull this whole thing off, taking care of a bunch of teens with PTSD, raging hormones, and revenge complexes to rival John Winchester's. As Sam reminds him, whenever he starts to go over the edge into existential crisis mode, "dude, it was your idea." "Not helping, man."

The Golden Trio (one of Dean's many, varied nicknames for the kids) tests the waters of the Winchesters' authority and willingness to set boundaries. After facing down archangels and the apocalypse, Sam and Dean have learned (the hard way) when to be immovable and when to give. There is a lot of give and take, negotiation, and compromise in the first few weeks. Sam maintains that they should try for as close an approximation of normalcy as they can manage. If crazy Roger could do it, so can they. Dean takes it as a personal challenge; Sam as a quest to prove something, to himself, to the kids, to Dean, maybe to the whole damn universe.

Krissy joins the Lacrosse team. Josephine signs up for Debate Club and rugby. Aiden plays soccer and is a Mathlete, which Sam loves and Dean can appreciate. They go to their games on the weekends—armed with snacks, blankets, team colors, and, on one memorable occasion, face paint—and form a cheering squad. Dean is the loudest, most exuberant, and all three kids roll their eyes and try to hide their smiles when he yells at the refs. Sam thinks Dean's an idiot, but Dean knows that Sam is a hypocrite because Sam fucking beams like an moron when Aiden gets top marks on his Latin Exam (he actually pins the A+ to the fridge), when Krissy puts together the logic behind a case before he does, or when Josephine translates Enochian sigils into English for the first time.

They settle into new routines…new patterns. Dean is suddenly cooking for five, and he doesn't mind at all, even though he gripes about it. His cooking repertoire expands suddenly: not just burgers, but salads, chicken, pasta, lasagna, pulled pork, biscuits, organic pizza, tofu. Cause, jeez, those kids are like fucking bottomless pits. Sam is responsible for breakfast (they need more coffee than they used to). The Beatles (another one of Dean's myriad nicknames) take care of lunch. They collectively set up chore rotations: times for homework and school, extra-curriculars and weapons training; foreign languages, lore, strategy. Everyone works together: they bicker; they have different strengths and weakness, but they help each other and tease each other and support one another.

There are new items in the batcave: iPod docs for Josie's indie rock; a TV and DVD player, a huge sofa, a foosball table that Dean found at some yard sale. He and Krissy have epic matches sometimes after school and keep an overall tally of victories and defeats. There are soccer cleats piled in the hallway, lacrosse sticks stacked alongside machetes, sneakers stashed amongst the hunting boots.

Josie, Aiden, and Sam go to Target that first weekend, and come back with a Dry Erase Board to build grocery lists and leave reminders; a new coat rack, extra pillows and blankets, posters, DVDs. The batcave becomes more lived in, more homelike, by the day.

When their fall semester comes to an end, all three kids make honor roll, and Dean bakes pies—Sam argues that that's more of a reward for Dean than Krissy, Aiden, and Josephine—but he also whips up their favorite foods for dinner. All three of the teens tell him that he's being ridiculous and such an 'old softie' when he says how proud of them he is. Dean brushes them off, tells them they should try saying that to his face the next time he's taking down a vengeful spirit. Sam half coughs "over compensating" into his hand to gales of laughter, and it's weird how freaking normal it is. How Dean and Sam basically adopted three kids, who are turning into relatively stable people, and turning the brothers into like actual parental figures, and not totally fucking up…

They have strict rules for when the Winchesters go out on a hunt: number one is _no_ armed combat (inside or outside the batcave), quickly followed by _no_ parties, and _no_ hunting. They let the teens be involved in the tracking and the planning and the research, but they only get to go on hunts that are local, because, obviously, they have to be in school on Monday morning.

They have movie nights on Friday, which is Dean's idea (because a. he _knows_ what he did on Friday nights when he was seventeen and there is _no fucking way_ he's letting that happen on his watch and b. these kids know nothing about culture, Jesus). Everyone else groans in unison, including and especially Sam, but that doesn't stop them all from grumbling into the sitting room, under Dean's narrowed eyes and triumphant smile, with popcorn and candy and pizza to watch the Indiana Jones Trilogy and marathon Star Trek and have epic debates about Die Hard v. the Bourne movies.

Krissy calls Dean an "epic dork" with the shake of her head and a fond smile. Aiden calls him and "old man." Josephine just shares a commiserating look with Sam, as if to say "why are we surrounded by children?" Neither of them apparently has an answer.

"Whatever, guys, I'm awesome," Dean retorts as he holds out a hand for a fist bump. One of the kids will eventually give in…when they realize he's not giving up.

Kevin comes by sometimes and it's fucking awesome to see him interact with the Goonies (they don't fucking know who the Goonies are; Sam had to really support Dean through that disturbing revelation). Dean and Sam forget sometimes that Kevin is only nineteen, but when he's hanging out with Aiden, Krissy, and Josephine, it's like he's suddenly able to be his own age again. Sam thinks he's got the hots for Josie, and Dean isn't sure how he feels about that—he watches their interactions with a new level of suspicion, while Sam pointedly drags him away before he can intervene. Nine times out of ten he doesn't fucking know what the hell the kids are talking about: bands and movies and tv shows and weird adjectives and texting slang. He catches himself thinking like that, and has to remember that he's not old enough to sound like a disgruntled grandpa, even if he is kinda sorta maybe half raising a bunch of teens.

Dean is content, the Gates of Hell still need closing, there are still monsters roaming the earth and demons to deal with, but he's got a home to come back to, people he cares about. The only thing missing…well, he shows up two months in. Castiel scares the shit out of Krissy and Aiden (who may or may not have been making out on the couch) when he suddenly appears in the batcave. They're yelling for backup; Josephine and Sam run in from the library, Dean from the kitchen. He's so fucking relieved to see the angel that he totally overlooks Krissy's disheveled hair and Aiden's flushed cheeks.

He crosses the room in three strides and hugs Cas so hard that, if he were human, Dean would have probably broken some ribs. Most surprising of all, Castiel hugs Dean back just as fiercely (definitely bruising some cartilage in the process).

"'Bout time you showed up," Dean snarks when he pulls back.

"My apologies for the delay," Castiel appears extremely sincere about that.

Dean is feeling surprisingly generous about it, plus, it's not like they can fight in front of the kiddies, it would send the wrong message. He's pretty sure he heard that somewhere…probably from Sam, who heard it from Oprah or something…

Castiel regards the gun toting teens with a curious tilt of his head…

"Uh, yeah," Dean scratches the back of his neck, "we kind of adopted some honorary Winchesters."

It's the first time he's said that and the kids look nonplussed but strangely pleased at belonging to this family. Sam has that tender touchy feely smile for his brother, like he's proud.

"C'mon," Sam says, "You're in time for dinner."

Krissy grills Cas pretty thoroughly, and, somewhere mid-bite of his burger, Dean realizes that she's giving him the third degree to protect Dean's honor, and he has a fleeting thought of 'that's my girl,' because Cas actually looks ruffled and it takes some damn impressive interrogative techniques to ruffle the dude's feathers. Josephine and Aiden are more interested in angels and heaven and all the new lore. Sam just repeatedly expresses how happy that he is to have Cas back and asks where the hell he's been. Dean mostly observes the madness—Josephine flinging a broccoli floret at Aiden's head when he makes and insensitive comment; Sam telling her that's not a mature avenue of retaliation until Krissy chucks a napkin that lands neatly on Sam's face, and Sam is forced to enter the melee—his leg is pressed against Cas' under the table. The angel observes the chaos as if he is slightly overwhelmed, but he gives Dean a small smile when the hunter wrangles some of the youngsters to help him clear the table. Krissy takes Cas into the living room with Sam. Josie, Dean, and Aiden wash and dry, and bring a plate of cookies with them into the sitting room, where Sam has apparently decided they're going to watch Star Wars.

Josie sits on Dean's left, Cas on his right, pressed close against his side. It feels like a natural extension to wrap his arm around his shoulder, make sure he stays close, and Cas rolls with it. Krissy and Aiden are snuggled together on the other couch; Dean raises his brows at her, darting a glance at Aiden; and Krissy repeats the same action with Cas. She and Dean share identical smirks and eye rolls. Sam is sitting on the floor propped against the couch, legs extended out in front of him, totally at ease; he and Dean lob witty retorts and comments at one another the whole time.

Josie and Krissy start talking about how "hella fucked up" it is that Leia makes out with Luke to which Aiden shoots a worried glance at Cas and yells "dudes, spoilers."

Cas turns to Dean, deadpan, "I don't understand what they're saying."

Dean shakes his head in commiseration, "Don't worry about it, Cas, kids today, you know?"

Cas nods solemnly in agreement.

"Don't be bitter, old man," Krissy snarks.

"Hey!"

"She has a point," Sam interjects.

"Dude, loyalty here, c'mon," Dean retorts.

"Sam can't help that he's just way cooler than you, Dean," Josie teases.

"Traitors, the lot of you," he makes a show of distress, "see if you get any more pie."

Aiden straight up laughs, "Yeah, cause that would seriously be a punishment for us."

"Don't antagonize him," Sam smirks, as if he hadn't been doing the same thing two seconds ago. The rest of the movie is accompanied by similar good-natured teasing.

They all head to bed circa midnight, because it's a school night.

"No funny business," Dean glares at Krissy and Aiden. The latter has the good sense to look frightened. Krissy just sticks out her tongue and says, "Night, gramps."

Sam tells Cas that he's glad he's back, and Josie reminds Dean that she has soccer practice till five tomorrow.

"No sweat, kid," Dean gives her a one armed hug, "night."

Sam gives Dean a raised brow and knowing smile when he bids him goodnight. After Dean clears up the plates and cups, he comes back to find Cas still sitting on the sofa.

"Well," Dean offers his hand, and Cas regards it quizzically, "c'mon, I saved you some space in my room, if you want…"

Cas stares at him for a beat, while Dean feels like an idiot, but then Cas smiles and takes Dean's hand, "I would like that."

"Good," Dean grins stupidly happy, and he leads Cas down the hall, past the sounds of snoring teenagers and Sasquatch, to his room, _their_ room. He feels happier than he has in years.


End file.
